Category Archives: Food

when it rains, it pours

01.26.10

The obligatory baby in the hospital photo:

Now then…

Yesterday, when I stopped at home, I had noticed that the fan on our freezer in the kitchen was running. I looked inside and found that the food was starting to thaw out, so I assumed that Rhiannon had opened the freezer and failed to make sure the door was shut tight before she left.

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to my wife for my incorrect assumption.

I’m sorry. What I should have noticed when I was home yesterday is that the fan was running but the compressor was not. Our fridge at home decided to stop working when we weren’t at home to notice. I have no idea what we have done to neglect it, but it seems kind of spiteful to me.

I moved all of the food in the freezer downstairs to our chest freezer and all of the food in the fridge that wasn’t past its expiration date got moved into the mini fridges. Yes, plural mini fridges. We have multiple leftover pint size refrigerators that we have said we need to get rid of because we don’t use them enough to justify the electricity they consume.

Well, they are both post-Thanksgiving dinner level stuffed right now, so I think that the expense has just been justified.

And not to scare anyone away from visiting us, but I did find some food that had expiration dates in the middle of 2008. And with he recent year change to 2010, I think we were this close to having one of the first refrigerator towns colonized by the life that sprang up from the out-of-date leftovers lurking in the dark corners.

Maybe it’s not so much that the fridge stopped working but that this was more of a protest of the working conditions. Picket lines and unions and protesters galore. One of us is heading back home tomorrow to see if anything has changed, and if there is a rally with bullhorns, tagboard signs, and kitchen appliances marching around in circles on our driveway, I’m calling the authorities.

Or at least one of those places with the offers for free appliance haul away.

Anybody want a disgruntled food processor?

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happy thanksgiving

11.26.09

The life of the road of warriors continues. While yesterday was our fifth flight with Brooklynn, it was the first on a plane that was large enough to have three seats together on one side, which meant we had to share a row with someone – up close and personal. Yes, Brooklynn is a good traveler, and we do our best to keep her occupied, but there are some people who would rather not sit beside a baby for a couple of hours.

Luckily, we ended up next to a woman who was expecting her first baby in four months. So, we got to discuss naming, nursery decorating, and traveling to see family. Also, she didn’t complain about the smell when Brooklynn decided to poop on the plane for the second consecutive flight.

On the last flight, we had a row behind us completely open, so it was easy enough to lay her down and change her. And the plane yesterday had a changing table in the bathroom to use – Rhiannon grabbed Brooklynn and the wipes and headed to the bathroom while I grabbed a magazine to read an article I had seen in the contents when I flipped through it. 30 seconds later, Rhiannon was back. She had the baby. She had the wipes. She just didn’t have a new diaper.

We figure that this will be the only Thanksgiving that Brooklynn will be content to kick around on the floor while we eat. She did sit on my lap while I had my piece of pumpkin pie and watched pretty much every bite go by. I think she would have been more than happy to take on of the bits off of my hands for me.

Also posted in Brooklynn, Travel, nablopomo | 1 Comment

starting down the solid path

11.16.09

Tonight, Brooklynn got cereal for the first time. We stirred it up with some water and mixed it in some prunes. I always thought that we would wait as long as possible to feed her “food” rather than only formula, just to make sure she’s ready. I’d say that readiness has come sooner than I anticipated.

If you’ve done any reading on babies and solid food recently, there is debate on when they might be ready and how to tell by seeing if they push food out of their mouth with their tongue. Brooklynn has no such issues. In fact, we have to be careful that she doesn’t choke on the spoon as she lunges toward it with her mouth wide open.

She had seconds and probably would have had a thirds helping if we would have let her. And then finished off her regular bottle as well. Did I mention that she’s around 17 pounds and we can no longer see her neck without digging through her chins first? We’re just hoping this is enough food to hold her through the night. Cross your fingers for us.

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good thing one of us is a certified teacher

11.10.09

When it comes right down to it, the amount of stuff about being a human that babies learn from their parents is overwhelming. How to move, how to get to sleep, how to talk, how to throw a ball, how to eat…

Ok, I guess eating comes naturally, right? It’s one of the those basic survival skills. Babies are born with a sucking reflex that allows them to get food if it is offered to them, and I suppose, when they are old enough, they instinctively know how to swallow solids (as solid as early baby food is, anyway). So, maybe parents are more of faciliators rather than actual teachers.

Now, when it comes to being civilized about our eating habits? We have a little work to do on that topic.

(The prunes were a suggestion from Brooklynn’s doctor to help the hard poop issues she’s been having. So far, it’s working.)

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halloween hangover

11.01.09

Due to some large amounts of snow and numerous holiday parties happening, trick-or-treating seemed a little lighter this year.

No, we didn’t have too much extra candy, but between the pop and 3 dozen extra sugar cookies (and frosting) that we ended up with over the weekend, I’ve been on a 48-hour sugar high bender.

I expect to crash sometime just before my alarm goes off tomorrow morning.

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